Sergio Tiempo
About this Artist
Whether you consult The New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, or Australia’s Limelight magazine, it is hard to find a review of Sergio Tiempo that does not highlight the virtuosity of his playing. Yet his technical prowess is rendered almost irrelevant by the individuality of Tiempo’s interpretations and by the depth of his understanding and insight into the repertoire he plays, from Brahms to Villa-Lobos, from Beethoven to Ginastera. With the full arsenal of expression at his disposal, from a “sound [so big] you might have thought his piano was amplified” (Philadelphia Explorer) to “a seductive pianissimo” (Berliner Morgenpost) and “whispering phrases” (New York Classical Review), both “percussive” and “sparkling and crystalline” (Frankfurter Rundschau), he lets the listener in on what he sees in a piece of music. Both audacious and nuanced, his playing exposes the composer’s ideas as he recognizes them. If his choices seem daring, then that is a risk that pays off. It is easy to set Tiempo’s interpretations apart from any other, and the results are “scintillating” (The New York Times) performances, presented with incredible stage presence and charisma.
A career that started more than 35 years ago, when Tiempo made his professional debut at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw at the age of 14, has seen him perform with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and Berliner Philharmoniker in the past five years alone.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Tiempo began his piano studies with his mother, Lyl Tiempo. He pays tribute to her, and some of his closest musical relations and influences, in his new album, Hommage (September 2023, Avanti). Among them are his sister and regular recital partner Karin Lechner, with whom he recorded Tango Rhapsody for two pianos and orchestra, written for the duo and the RSI Lugano by Argentine composer Federico Jusid; Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire, both of whom entered his life as family friends long before they became teachers and companions on his musical journey; Alan Weiss, a lifelong friend and one of his earliest teachers; and Mischa Maisky, who, aside from his sister Karin, became Tiempo’s first chamber music partner and with whom he recorded several discs for Deutsche Grammophon. Other recordings have included Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit and three Chopin Nocturnes for Martha Argerich Presents on EMI, as well as his disc Legacy, released on Avanti in January 2018.
It is this rich environment of musical minds, driven as much by compassionate generosity as by uncompromisingly demanding artistry, that shaped Tiempo more than anything, and from where he went on to Fondazione per il Pianoforte in Como, Italy, where he worked with Dmitri Bashkirov, Fou Ts’ong, Murray Perahia, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
He has performed with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Marin Alsop, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Thierry Fischer, Emmanuel Krivine, Ken-David Masur, Ludovic Morlot, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Alondra de la Parra, Rafael Payare, Alexander Prior, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Xian Zhang, and, maybe most of all, with his fellow countryman and friend Gustavo Dudamel. With him, notable performances include the world premiere of Esteban Benzecry’s piano concerto Universos Infinitos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, followed by performances of the work at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. Among their many shared performances of Ginastera’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is Tiempo’s recent debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Strong relationships connect him especially to the LA Phil and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, where he was Artist in Residence in 2018.
Orchestral repertoire in recent season has also included the Beethoven Triple Concerto (Los Angeles), Chopin 1 (Los Angeles, Philadelphia), Grieg (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid, Queensland), Prokofiev 1 (LA), Ravel (Taiwan National Symphony, Boston), Rachmaninoff 3 (Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Liverpool, Stavanger, St. Petersburg), Rachmaninoff Paganini Variations (Frankfurt), and Tchaikovsky 1 (LA, São Paulo, Queensland).
As a recitalist, Tiempo has appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s International Piano Series, Konzerthaus Wien, Wigmore Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, and Edinburgh International Festival, at Klavier Festival Ruhr, at the George Enescu Festival, the Martha Argerich festivals in Lugano and at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Warsaw Chopin Festival, Brussels Chopin Days, Music Days in Lisbon, and recital tours across China, South Korea, Italy, and North and South America.